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Grom didn’t go the way Amity had planned it to. At all.
She was never able to give Luz her note, having tried and backed out. The first time she had run into Luz in the hallway, literally. The second time she had been in the woods on her way to deliver the note when she ran into Luz again, literally. Instead of delivering the note, Amity told Luz her worries about being Grom Queen and the girl offered to take her place.
“I’ll be your fearless champion!” Luz had declared to Amity, resolving to face Gromethius in her place. Amity knew what that entailed, what kind of dangerous game Luz was playing. She could only hope that everything would turn out ok.
***
Luz bolted from the arena in the school, Grom chasing close behind her. The two disappeared into the dark forest and Amity knew that she had to go after Luz. She couldn’t let the human face this on her own, despite her own embarrassing fear of being rejected by her. Luz rejecting her would be better than watching Grom hurt her.
Amity ran after them, everyone’s eyes on the trio dashing away from the school. She ran through the forest, following nothing but the distant sounds of crashing pines and Luz’s terrified screams. Amity saw just ahead of her what looked to be a clearing. Suddenly, a flash of bright light and a blood curdling scream stopped the girl dead in her tracks. Amity’s face fell as she recognized Luz’s voice and pushed herself to go towards the scene.
Luz needs your help Amity, you have to save her, this is all your fault.
She gritted her teeth and burst through the treeline onto the grassy cliff. Her breathing was heavy as she braced against a tree momentarily, looking around wildly, searching for Luz and the monster. A figure lay on the ground ahead of her, battered and beaten, unmoving. Amity’s eyes widened as tears began to prick at the corner of her eyes.
No... It can’t be...
Amity was too late. Her own selfishness had caught up to her. Her dumb fear had prevented her from doing her duty and from protecting the one girl she wanted to protect the most.
Amity took a tentative step forward and hovered over the figure momentarily, overcome with dread as she collapsed to her knees on the ground. With a shaking hand she reached out to touch the girl’s shoulder and turn her towards herself. Amity saw Luz’s once lively brown eyes, now so blank and dull, glazed over and staring unseeing into the night sky. The stars shone so brightly overhead, seemingly mocking what was now lost.
Amity’s face paled in horror and she recoiled instantly, her eyes blurring with tears as she began to scream, sobbing into the unforgiving night with no one but the trees to hear her. She curled in on herself, hunched over her knees in the grass. The undelivered note still sat in Amity’s pocket, a reminder of what never was and now never will be. She curled her hand into a fist in the grass and squeezed her eyes shut as tears stained her dress.
How could she let this happen? She’d failed Luz.
I should never have let her switch with me, it should have always been me. I should be in Luz’s place right now.
Amity knew what kind of dangerous game she was playing, why had she let Luz go in her place? Why had she been so stupid as to be blind to this inevitability? Luz was so strong but this… was something that not even Amity believed herself able to defeat.
The beautiful girl laying in front of Amity whom she loved so much was gone and there was nothing she could possibly do to fix that. “What am I supposed to do without you...?” She whispered to Luz, unresponsive and cold on the ground. Shaking sobs racked her body, tearing through her throat and into the eerie quiet of the clearing.
The leaves behind her rustled and, “Amity…?”
Her eyes shot open and she stilled, realizing whose voice was calling out to her. She whipped her head around to see, could it really be...?
“Why the tears, Mittens?” Luz asked, tears of her own threatening to fall from her bright eyes. She smiled, a very uniquely Luz smile, and this time it truly was her.
Amity’s breath hitched as she turned, her eyebrows knitted together in worry and realization as she saw Luz standing there, alive. The human gave a small, saddened smile as she realized what she had just missed and outstretched her hand to the girl on the ground.
Amity’s knees were weak as she stood and paused for a moment, looking at Luz, the real Luz, the alive Luz.
The human opened her arms wide and Amity fell unceremoniously into her embrace, tucking her head against Luz’s shoulder and holding her tight. Amity cried harder as she gripped the back of the girl’s tuxedo, holding onto her as if she may disappear into thin air. Amity could feel the girl’s chest rise and fall in time with hers as she pressed up against her. Luz was safe, and that’s all that mattered to Amity in that moment - Grom had been tricking her, she was wrong about her true fear all along; Of course she would truly be afraid of losing the girl she loves most.
“You were afraid of losing me, Amity?” Luz asked, pulling back and looking into the other girl’s eyes. Amity noticed that Luz now had tears streaming down her face, matching her own disheveled appearance. Luz gave Amity a soft look that she couldn’t quite recognize as she reached up and cupped her cheek with one hand, slipping her other hand into Amity’s. She wiped her tears away with a stroke of her thumb, “I’m here now, Mittens. Please don’t cry,” Amity sniffled once more, leaning into her touch. “I’m not going anywhere, ok?” Luz reassured her softly.
Behind them, the figure of Luz on the ground morphed and disappeared, returning to its original monstrous form.
“Amity,” Luz said, shifting her hands to the witch’s shoulders “Let’s defeat Grom together, ok?” She squeezed her shoulder reassuringly.
Amity nodded and regained her composure, gathering new resolve to defeat the monster that had caused the two of them so much pain. Grom rose behind them, menacing. A look of determination flashed across Amity’s face, she stepped back and offered Luz her hand.
“May I have this dance?”